The WSJ article is behind a paywall, so here’s the relevant bits:
Walt Disney Co. DIS 1.67% has decided to reanimate scenes showing its only black princess in the coming “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel after facing criticism that the company had lightened her skin tone from previous appearances and narrowed her nose.
Princess Tiana, hailed as a breakthrough character for Disney when she first appeared in 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog,” is briefly featured in the “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel, called “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” After images of the princess were released by Disney over the summer, online users noted what they perceived as differences in pigmentation and facial features between the 2009 and 2018 versions of Tiana.
The social-media-driven backlash prompted Disney to begin reanimating the princess immediately after the images were released, according to a person familiar with the matter. The revisions—an unusual move given the yearslong process of making an animated film—come in the final months before the movie’s release on Nov. 21.
During the revision process, Disney animators weighed feedback from Anika Noni Rose, the actress who voices Tiana, and met with representatives from Color of Change, an advocacy organization that focuses on issues of racial representation and political inequality, including portrayals of black characters in Hollywood.
Brandi Collins-Dexter, a senior campaign director with Color of Change, traveled to Disney’s Burbank, Calif. headquarters last week for a review with the animators of the changes, which she described as darker hair and a wider nose and mouth.
In a statement Thursday, Color of Change praised Disney’s decision to “restore Princess Tiana’s image to that of an unapologetically black princess with full lips, dark skin and dark hair.”
“Reading this just made my morning” — screencap shared by @MrSteJ on Twitter
[Description: Screencap of two Tweets with the sender’s name and avatar scratched out.
Tweet1: Well done dr Who my son is now hooked because he also suffers with dyspraxia and knows he’s not alone now”
Tweet2: “I’m just glad they didn’t make it about being clumsy. At the end my son actually went and got his bike out to give it another go and that was all down to the character who kept trying”]
As someone with a fucken ton of dyspraxia traits… I’m so happy Ryan exists.
It took me years and years to learn simple coordination things like kicking a ball, clipping my nails, fitting a key into a lock, dressing myself at normal speed. I could never participate in school sports, I still struggle with cooking and navigating traffic and just walking through rooms without bumping into all the furniture. I still drop things out of my hands like once a week.
There’s so much overlap in traits between dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism and AD(H)D, to the point where many professionals now believe they’re all facets of the same overarching condition. Doctor Who has always been a home for those of us on the autism spectrum — it’s about damn time the dyspraxia community became part of our Whovian family as well. ❤
Molly's Monsters 